Gladean Empire, Emperor’s Palace, 936, August 12th, Sunday, 1:00 PM.

Outside of the palace’s walls, where crowds of people dressed in lavish ways mingled and enjoyed their time drinking and partaking of the food and treats. Claire sat at a bench on her own, surrounded by the elegant flowers and decorations placed all around the large garden in the back of the palace.

Her watchful amber eyes observed the guests as they went about their business, engraving their faces in her mind one by one. A feminine voice calling out from her earpiece suddenly caught the lieutenant’s attention, guiding one finger towards the device to answer the call.

“Lieutenant!” Tori spoke through the radio piece. “I received a call from Eric, they are both in position.”

“Good, had they spotted anything suspicious?”

“Yes! They spotted a weird man with a beard, blowing bubbles with a pipe.”

“What?”

“Eric said he wasn’t in the guest’s list, and he has no idea how he got in.”

The man’s description caused Claire to raise an eyebrow, recalling the date given to her in the mission details. “I see…” she said to herself before replying to Tori. “Remain in position, Tori. Inform Eric and Scott that they are to leave the man alone.”

“Ah… are you sure?”

“Yes, keep a close watch for our suspects, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Going back to her patrol, Claire was immediately interrupted once again—this time, by a masculine voice coming from inside the palace, announcing the arrival of the emperor through a microphone. The announcement was met with applause from the guests at the lobby, who stood up from their seats at the man’s presence.

“Alright…” Claire whispered—taking a quick glance at the people outside while keeping her head slightly lowered. “One… two… three…” she said with a low voice while counting heads—focusing on guests with a stoic and dead expression in their faces, all of them seated in different areas of the garden—their stature quite tall, and of the same height.

Inside the palace—from one of the long stairways leading to the second floor, a man dressed in fancy clothes strode his way down the stairs, accompanied by two guards wearing golden tunics—with a red one-shoulder cape attached to it, their faces concealed by their iron helmets.

The man was quite young and had dark brown hair—his locks dropping just over his shoulders. He was dressed in a long white and azure robe, decorated with gold patterns and jewels. In his head, rested a gold crown with sapphires incrusted on it. His eyes were of a dark brown like his hair, and his skin as pale as snow.

At one of the tables in a corner, a pair remained seated while unconcerned by the presence of the emperor. Loki observed with a casual smirk while playing with the glass of wine, running his finger around the edge of the glass. Euthemia—who sat in front of him, snarled with a disgusted frown as the emperor concluded his arrival by stepping into the lobby—planting his golden boots on the azure floor mat. The princess turned to look back at Loki, who’s gaze remained glued on the young man smiling and saluting at the public.

“Are you going to do something, brute?”

“What?” Loki raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the blonde princess.

“Ugh… aren’t you here to kill this guy?” she reprimed the man with an annoyed tone—keeping her voice low. “And why are you still playing with that thing? Will you just drink your wine already?”

“Oh, this?” Loki lifted the glass in one hand. “I don’t like these fermented water people make.”

“Whatever, just get this over with so we can go home.” Euthemia commanded. “At least I’ll get to see somebody die today.”

“Not interested,” Loki said while placing both hands behind his head—leaning his back on the chair. “I’ll just wait a little longer…” he closed his eyes as one corner on his lips curved upwards—baring his fang with a confident grin.

On the second floor, still dressed in his suit, Scott kept a watchful eye on all the guests below. His modified glasses offered him the option to zoom in on people’s faces, with one particular pair catching his eye.

“Is that…?” the man squinted his eyes from behind his glasses—pressing the tiny button on his earpiece. “Eric… I think I found him… the Loki guy.” Scott reported, but received no answer from the other side. “Eric, respond.”

In a floor below, down in the palace’s cellar. Eric kept his back flat on a wall while peeking through a corner, keeping a hand on the sword sheathed on his hip—he ripped the dress to reveal his normal clothes underneath, a more comfortable getup for a fight. Scott’s voice suddenly came through his earpiece, but the noble’s attention was solely focused on the pair of tall men standing in an obscured corner—almost invisible to the human eye.

“Eric, are you there?”

As to not cause any misunderstandings, Eric pressed the button in his earpiece—tapping it with his finger multiple times, reporting back to Scott with a series of long and short taps. The tall men moved from the corner, walking closer to Eric’s position—forcing him to scurry away.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Back on ground level, as the emperor’s soldiers surrounded him to keep his subjects at a distance—the pair of gold dressed guards being next to him. Tormod blew bubbles from his pipe while blending in with the crowd, keeping a close watch on all present in the massive lobby. His eyes glanced at the blonde woman with short hair, and the nonchalant black-haired man sitting at a corner—moving his gaze back and forth between them and the emperor.

“This guy is fast…” the detective thought. “He definitely saw me looking at him… heh, here I thought nothing could beat my inhuman perception…” a drop of sweat rolled down the man’s cheek as he continued to blow more bubbles from his pipe.

Southern Region of the Deadlands, Barren Wasteland: 936, August 12th, Sunday, 1:00 PM.

In the barren lands of the hellish crimson zone, enveloped in a thick red fog. The small scout unit known as ‘Heretic’ battled a horde of specters nearing the borders of Pelkesk, having been tasked with a cleanup operation from the CEO himself.

Aria remained locked in combat against one of the gaunt demons, her exoskeleton suit sparking with electrified waves running through it. The creature swung one of its arms at her, prompting Aria to duck under it—stepping sideways to avoid a second swing from its other arm.

“Close!” the girl claimed with a smile in her face—bumping her fists together. “Now, here I go!”

With a powerful uppercut against the demon’s chin, Aria gained an opening to continue her assault with a spinning kick against the monster’s face. As the sole of her feet connected with the specter’s head, Aria reeled her arm backwards before propelling it back forward into a potent attack that collided with the monster’s chest.

“It’s over!” she shouted—keeping the knuckles in her suit pressed against the demon’s core, releasing a strong charge of electricity that shattered the monster’s heart into pieces.

Falling lifeless into the scorched earth, the creature’s body quickly dissipated into embers. Curving her lips into a satisfied smirk, Aria slammed her fist in the other palm before fixing the headband wrapped around her forehead.

“I still got it.”

“Watch it, dork!” Xun warned her from behind.

As she heard the sudden warning, Aria turned her body to look back in Xun’s direction—where her gaze met a fast-approaching demon with a reptilian-like face. Its snout was short and its exoskeleton body as sturdy as the toughest of armors, the pair of eyes on its head glowing with an intimidating crimson.

Reacting to the feral demon’s approach, Aria crossed both of her arms in front while hiding her face behind them. A violent ignition blasting the creature’s shoulder suddenly stopped its ravenous advance however, bending its knees to prevent itself from falling as it stumbled sideways.

“I’ll deal with this one!” Xun claimed as she rapidly approached—safeguarded inside the cockpit of her mech suit.

She extended her mech’s arm to point its rifle at the demon, pressing the trigger to release a barrage of high caliber bullets against it. Her firearm emitted loud banging sounds repeatedly, resonating throughout the region as the bullets traveled in the air. The rain of projectiles battered continuously at the specter’s body, unable to react as the bullets pierced through its sturdy armor.

“Crush them!” with a strong roar from inside her cockpit, Xun pressed the fingers of her mech into a fist while raising its arm in the air.

In a strong upwards swing, Xun smacked the demon under the chin with a powerful uppercut—forcing it down on the ground. Utilizing its other arm, Xun hid the fist of her mech inside its arm—pulling out a canon of stainless steel. Taking a few seconds to gather energy inside it, Xun pressed the trigger in her controls to release a powerful projectile from the canon—detonating on impact against the staggered creature that destroyed its body completely, leaving nothing but embers behind.

“Phew!” Aria exclaimed in relief—stepping next to Xun’s mech while lifting her head slightly, looking at the woman inside the cockpit. “Well done, tin can. I owe you a few beers.”

“Watch out!” a masculine voice called out from the distance—prompting both women to turn and face it.

“What the-!” Aria recoiled in surprise.

Xun exhaled from her mouth, rubbing her forehead with one hand. “Of course…”

In the distance, approaching at incredible velocity, was Sebastian and his target. A muscular specter with both of its lower fangs sticking out from its mouth, tall enough to tower over the average person multiple times. Sebastian held the demon by the head, wrapping both his arms around its eyes while riding its shoulders from the back. Fearing for their safety, Xun grabbed Aria with her mech and carried her in its arms—jumping out of the way.

“Alright, time to stop playing!” the major claimed with a confident grin. “Hup!” he pulled his arms back with all the strength he could gather, reeling the monsters head backwards with him.

The creature lost its balance as its upper body bended backwards, beginning to fall. The major scurried his way around the body of the demon, pressing his boots on its chest to force it into the ground. The giant dropped to the ground, its back shattering a large rock as it landed on top of it. In a quick reaction to defend itself, the specter suddenly threw its arm upwards towards the man standing on its chest—enveloping Sebastian’s head inside its palm.

A sudden banging sound echoed across the battlefield, and the monster watched as its arm was abruptly cut off from the rest of its body. The embers left by the arm vanished to reveal the major’s smiling face, exhibiting Callisto—his spectral shotgun, to the demon.

“That was fun, let’s do that again another time.” Sebastian pointed both cannons of his sawed-off shotgun at the monster’s face—pressing his finger against the trigger to release the crimson shells of Callisto.

The shotgun’s projectiles shattered the demon’s face open, ending its life violently in a single shot. Despite the specter’s core remaining intact, the demon’s body began to vanish into embers as its core shut off into a black sphere—leaving no trail behind.

“Major!” Aria called out as she sprinted towards Sebastian—with Xun following close behind.

“Well done you two,” the major claimed—holstering his shotgun. “I’m hungry, so we should go back to camp.”

“I hope the drinks are still cold when we get back…” Xun said as a sigh of concern left her lips.

Aria knocked on the mech suit’s arm with her knuckles, replying, “don’t worry, Xun. I kept them all fresh inside the freezer, your technology is really something else.”

“Hahaha!” Sebastian laughed loudly before chiming in. “Well, there’s nothing more for us to do here, let’s go back!”

“Sorry to interrupt,” a masculine voice—known only to Xun, suddenly spoke. It was soft and gentle, but powerful in its delivery.

Heretic turned to face the strange voice, taken by surprise. Noticing the man slowly approaching with a calm stride, Aria instinctively took a few steps back—hiding part of herself behind Sebastian. Xun took a defensive stance with her mech, but her shoulders relaxed once she took a closer eye at the man’s face. Sebastian kept a nonchalant smile in his expression—allowing the man to step close with no issue.

The man stepped in front of the major, towering over him. “My name is Ninigi,” the knight said. “I want to talk.”

END OF CHAPTER